A Gift of Time by Jerry Merritt

Read by Christopher Lane

The time travel tale that the love child of Robert A. Heinlein and Dean Koontz might have written--if that love child had a lighter and more deft hand with the quirky character types and folksy turns of phrase than either of his parents. You could almost call this book a ripping yarn, but the bad stuff that happens is too horrific. You could almost call it a gripping horror novel, but it refuses to descend so far into the depths of horror that one despairs of redemption.

The tale follows the sorts of twists and turns I expected and hoped for--the roller-coaster-ride sort that keep me coming back for more time travel tales--but in ways that were unexpected enough to keep me completely entertained. Most of the side characters are very one-dimensional, to a pulp-fiction extent--but the three (or four, depending how you count it) central characters are fully-fleshed and, within their context, entirely believable. I needed to know what would happen to them.

The reader of the audiobook version, Christopher Lane, does a fantastic job with the accents and just in general. The one exception--as with most male audiobook performers, especially those with deep voices, his impression of female voices sounds like he's mocking the women whose lines he's reading. But I think that can't be helped, given his vocal equipment. It wasn't bad enough to be distracting.

Masterfully written and totally fun. I want to read more books by this guy.

Trickster's Queen (Daughter of the Lioness #2) by Tamora Pierce

read by Trini Alvarado

After Trickster’s Choice, I had to find out what happened to Aly and the family she serves. She’s fully made the transition from slave to spymaster, and because of a little gift from the god who got her into this mess, her side has massively better communications than the other side. I found this plot to be a lot more predictable than the first book--there was one major surprise, which I can’t reveal without spoiling the book for you, but I found the way it was handled unconvincing.

Still a fun read. I feel like this pair of books was written with a screen adaptation in mind--the more ham-fisted plot devices felt designed to play well on the big screen with lots of CGI. Props to Trini Alvarado, who read both volumes perfectly.

What Love Is and What It Could Be by Carrie Jenkins

read by the author

A philosophical treatise on the nature of love—which could be dry, but it’s not. Short, super readable, peppered with pop culture references (mostly used as metaphors) which will date the book in a few more years but for now make it a very relatable read.

The author argues that love isn’t merely a social construct nor a biological process/drive, but both. As an inveterate distruster of dichotomies, which are all too often false, I am naturally inclined to appreciate the merits of this argument; but I think she really does objectively make her case. A must-read for all of us over-thinkers, and also a great book to hand to your parents who don’t "get" whatever kind of relationship you're in.

An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King

read by James Chen, Tim Chiou, and Elaine Kao

Set in a near-future China where the problem of “excess males” caused by a combination of the one-child policy and parents’ preference for boy children is being solved by making “advanced families” (two or three husbands sharing one wife) the norm, this book tells the story of a two-husband family considering “going the max” by marrying a third man, and that of the man being considered.

The little family has secrets that would be safer without adding another person to the mix. One of May-Ling's husbands has autism, and the other is "willfully sterile," meaning gay. Both of these conditions are, if not technically illegal, certainly punishable, and must be kept hidden if their child is to thrive and everybody is to survive in relative freedom. But those selfsame secrets make the marriage untenable, in the long run, for two of its members. That's why they're even considering adding a third husband to the mix.

Meanwhile Wei-Guo, our eponymous "excess male," has, in his 40s, just managed to save up enough money for a dowry. He soon falls in love with May-Ling, to the consternation of his fathers, who are appropriately cautious about the match. They've heard rumors about May-Ling's husbands, and being a third husband isn't exactly a high-status position.

And then, of course, disaster strikes and everybody has to decide how committed they really are to their desires and to each other, and what kind of consequences they're willing to accept for their actions. Wei-Guo's talent for loyalty won't be enough to save anyone without a lot of help from an unexpected quarter.

This book is super absorbing, and as a bonus, raises all sorts of interesting points about gender roles, neurodiversity, the nature of love, and the meaning of family. Highly recommend.